Personal hygiene is a word that is now fast gaining importance in the lives of Indians. Many companies today have products which vie for the attention of aware Indian consumers. But this was not the situation, way back in 1999, when Tulips started its journey, as a very small-scale cotton buds manufacturing company in Delhi. With very low level of awareness, almost no marketing or distribution muscle and poor retail penetration of hygiene products in India, Tulips had to struggle a lot and find customers in more developed overseas markets and make products for other brands and Western supermarkets.
TULIPS had a tumultuous time throughout the entire first decade of the millennium. It did not have a supporting market at home and the export markets kept becoming more and more difficult as Chinese competition had the benefits of manipulated currency, huge export subsidies and a world class infrastructure (while TULIPS had none of these). This led TULIPS into backward integration, cost reduction and TQM projects which helped it not just to survive the difficult times, but over a period of time, become one of the most qualitative and biggest producers of cotton hygiene products in Asia. Today, TULIPS has its owned production and warehouse facilities spread over 100,000 sq feet. TULIPS products reach to more than 180,000 retail outlets, in every state of India comprising chemists, groceries, cosmetic stores, convenience stores, hypermarkets and all major national retail chains throughout India. Also, a leading brand on all the major e-commerce portals such as Amazon, Jiomart, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Big Basket, Netmeds, and Nykaa.
TULIPS, homegrown purely Indian brand built from scratch, is sought by and exported to more than 16 countries such as Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia, where there is even sales support provided.
According to its partner Rahul Jain, “the biggest achievement is not in the size and spread, but in the fact that TULIPS has now become the first choice of consumers in many countries, when it comes to personal hygiene products such as cotton buds, pads, wet wipes and tissues. It’s a proud moment when we visit foreign countries’ supermarkets/stores, to find our Indian brand outselling products from other countries”. Its all because every TULIPS product guarantees purity, perfection and satisfaction to the consumer, even while having its products priced very competitively.
All TULIPS products are not just produced automatically at its state-of-the-art facilities, but every product is dermatologically-approved, microbiologically-tested and comes packed in attractive latest international packaging.
TACKLING COVID-19
TULIPS was looking for opportunity while putting the nation first.
During these testing times due to the pandemic, TULIPS was the first Indian company to develop and receive ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and NIV (National Institute of Virology) validation to domestically produce COVID-19 test swabs.
To meet the national need for COVID-19 tests, the company ramped up its production, by converting its production lines and reconfiguring equipment, of some of its manufacturing capabilities. The intent was to make the country self-reliant in nasal and throat swabs, a critical component in fighting COVID-19 war. With rising number of COVID-19 cases, the company shifted focus to affordable swabs, as domestically produced swabs would cost one-tenth the imported throat swabs.
At the peak of pandemic’s second wave, Tulips was producing even up to four million swabs every day to ensure the country does not fall short of test swabs.
SUSTAINABLE INITIATIVES
TULIPS is the first to introduce sustainable and eco-friendly cotton swabs throughout the country. Being the leader, TULIPS has vowed to convert all its cotton buds to 100% biodegradable before the end of 2023. It is replacing plastic sticks with eco-friendly, sustainable FSC paper sticks, ensuring that ‘NO FORESTS ARE CUT FOR ITS COTTON BUDS/ SWABS’.
It also has one of the biggest solar roof top plant in Ghaziabad, which generates nearly 30% of its total electricity requirement, through solar power.
Ajay Jain and Rajeev Jain, the guiding force and founding partners at TULIPS, humbly attribute its success to an unbeatable teamwork which keeps it ticking and innovating on every front.
TULIPS is the winner of ‘TOP 100 SME of INDIA’ Award 2017 and the UP State Export Excellence Award 2017 and it was chosen as the ET NOW LEADER of TOMORROW 2018.
